Dataset Information

The effect of hospital volume on mortality in patients admitted with severe sepsis.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

The association between hospital volume and inpatient mortality for severe sepsis is unclear.

Objective

To assess the effect of severe sepsis case volume and inpatient mortality.

Design setting and participants

Retrospective cohort study from 646,988 patient discharges with severe sepsis from 3,487 hospitals in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2002 to 2011.

Exposures

The exposure of interest was the mean yearly sepsis case volume per hospital divided into tertiles.

Main outcomes and measures

Inpatient mortality.

Results

Compared with the highest tertile of severe sepsis volume (>60 cases per year), the odds ratio for inpatient mortality among persons admitted to hospitals in the lowest tertile (?10 severe sepsis cases per year) was 1.188 (95% CI: 1.074-1.315), while the odds ratio was 1.090 (95% CI: 1.031-1.152) for patients admitted to hospitals in the middle tertile. Similarly, improved survival was seen across the tertiles with an adjusted inpatient mortality incidence of 35.81 (95% CI: 33.64-38.03) for hospitals with the lowest volume of severe sepsis cases and a drop to 32.07 (95% CI: 31.51-32.64) for hospitals with the highest volume.

Conclusions and relevance

We demonstrate an association between a higher severe sepsis case volume and decreased mortality. The need for a systems-based approach for improved outcomes may require a high volume of severely septic patients.

SUBMITTER: Shahul S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4181313 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

The effect of hospital volume on mortality in patients admitted with severe sepsis.

Shahul Sajid S Hacker Michele R MR Novack Victor V Mueller Ariel A Shaefi Shahzad S Mahmood Bilal B Ali Syed Haider SH Talmor Daniel D

PloS one 20140929 9

<h4>Importance</h4>The association between hospital volume and inpatient mortality for severe sepsis is unclear.<h4>Objective</h4>To assess the effect of severe sepsis case volume and inpatient mortality.<h4>Design setting and participants</h4>Retrospective cohort study from 646,988 patient discharges with severe sepsis from 3,487 hospitals in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2002 to 2011.<h4>Exposures</h4>The exposure of interest was the mean yearly sepsis case volume per hospital divided i ...[more]

PMID: 25264788

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Project description:RationaleImmunosuppressive medical conditions are risk factors for mortality from severe infections. It is unknown whether hospital characteristics affect this risk.ObjectivesTo determine whether the odds of death for an immunosuppressed patient with sepsis relative to a nonimmunosuppressed patient with sepsis varies according to the hospital's yearly case volume of immunosuppressed patients with sepsis.MethodsPatients with sepsis at hospitals in the Vizient database were characterized as immunosuppressed or not immunosuppressed on the basis of diagnosis codes and medication use. Hospitals were grouped into quartiles based on their average volumes of immunosuppressed patients with sepsis per year. Multilevel logistic regression with clustering of patients by hospital was used to determine whether the odds of in-hospital death from sepsis owing to a suppressed immune state varied by hospital quartile.ResultsThere were 350,183 patients with sepsis at 60 hospitals in the Vizient database from 2010 to 2012. Immunosuppressed patients with sepsis at the 15 hospitals in the lowest quartile (64 to 224 immunosuppressed patients with sepsis per year) had an increased odds of in-hospital death relative to nonimmunosuppressed patients with sepsis at these hospitals (adjusted odds ratio, 1.38; 95% confidence interval, 1.27-1.50; P < 0.001). The odds of in-hospital death for immunosuppressed patients with sepsis relative to nonimmunosuppressed patients with sepsis was similar for patients at hospitals in the second, third, and fourth quartiles (225 to 1,056 immunosuppressed patients with sepsis per year). The adjusted odds of death from sepsis owing to a suppressed immune state of 1.21 (95% confidence interval, 1.18-1.25; P < 0.001) for patients at these 45 hospitals was significantly less than for patients at the 15 hospitals in the lowest quartile (P = 0.004 for difference).ConclusionsThe risk of death from sepsis owing to a suppressed immune state was greatest at hospitals with the lowest volume of immunosuppressed patients with sepsis. Further study is needed to determine whether this finding is related to differences in patient characteristics or in care delivery at hospitals with different amounts of exposure to immunosuppressed patients.

Project description:IntroductionThe aim of the study was to assess the influence of annual volume and factors related to intensive care unit (ICU) organization on in-hospital mortality among patients admitted to the ICU with severe sepsis.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted using the database of the Dutch National Intensive Care Evaluation (NICE) registry. Analyses were based on consecutive patients admitted between 1 January 2003 and 30 June 2005 who fulfilled criteria for severe sepsis within the first 24 hours of admission. A 13-item questionnaire was sent to all 32 ICUs across The Netherlands that participated in the NICE registry within this period in order to obtain information on ICU organization and staffing. The association between in-hospital mortality and factors related to ICU organization was investigated using logistic regression analysis, combined with generalized estimation equations to account for potential correlations of outcomes within ICUs. Correction for patient-related factors took place by including Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, age, sex and number of dysfunctioning organ systems in the analyses.ResultsAnalyses based on 4,605 patients from 28 ICUs (questionnaire response rate 90.6%) revealed that a higher annual volume of severe sepsis patients is associated with a lower in-hospital mortality (P = 0.029). The presence of a medium care unit (MCU) as a step-down facility with intermediate care is associated with a higher in-hospital mortality (P = 0.013). For other items regarding ICU organization, no independent significant relationships with in-hospital mortality were found.ConclusionA larger annual volume of patients with severe sepsis admitted to Dutch ICUs is associated with lower in-hospital mortality in this patient group. The presence of a MCU as a step-down facility is associated with greater in-hospital mortality. No other significant associations between in-hospital mortality and factors related to ICU organization were found.

Project description:OBJECTIVES:Recent trials suggest that treatment with neuromuscular blocking agents may improve survival in patients requiring mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory distress syndrome. We examined the association between receipt of a neuromuscular blocking agent and in-hospital mortality among mechanically ventilated patients with severe sepsis. DESIGN:A pharmacoepidemiologic cohort study of patients with sepsis and a respiratory infection who had been admitted to intensive care and placed on mechanical ventilation within the first 2 days of hospitalization. We used propensity score matching and instrumental variable methods to compare the outcomes of patients treated with neuromuscular blocking agents within the first 2 hospital days to those who were not. Sensitivity analysis was used to model the effects of a hypothetical unmeasured confounder. SETTING:Three hundred thirty-nine U.S. hospitals that participated in the Premier Perspective database between 2004 and 2006. PATIENTS:Seven thousand eight hundred sixty-four patients met inclusion criteria, including 1,818 (23%) who were treated with a neuromuscular blocking agent by hospital day 2. INTERVENTIONS:None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS:Patients who received neuromuscular blocking agents were younger (mean age, 62 vs 68), more likely to be treated with vasopressors (69% vs 65%) and had a lower in-hospital mortality rate (31.9% vs 38.3%, p < 0.001). In 3,518 patients matched on the propensity for treatment, receipt of a neuromuscular blocking agent was associated with a reduced risk of in-hospital mortality (risk ratio, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.80, 0.96). An analysis using the hospital neuromuscular blocking agent-prescribing rate as an instrumental variable found receipt of a neuromuscular blocking agent associated with a 4.3% (95% CI, -11.5%, 1.5%) reduction in in-hospital mortality. CONCLUSIONS:Among mechanically ventilated patients with severe sepsis and respiratory infection, early treatment with a neuromuscular blocking agent is associated with lower in-hospital mortality.

Project description:IntroductionCompliance with the ventilator care bundle affects the rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia. It was not known, however, whether compliance with sepsis care bundles has an impact on outcome. The aims of the present study were to determine the rate of compliance with 6-hour and 24-hour sepsis bundles and to determine the impact of the compliance on hospital mortality in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock.MethodsWe conducted a prospective observational study on 101 consecutive adult patients with severe sepsis or septic shock on medical or surgical wards, or in accident and emergency areas at two acute National Health Service Trust Teaching hospitals in England. The main outcome measures were: the rate of compliance with 6-hour and 24-hour sepsis care bundles adapted from the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines on patients' clinical care; and the difference in hospital mortality between the compliant and the non-compliant groups.ResultsThe median age of the patients was 69 years (interquartile range 51 to 78), and 53% were male. The sources of infection were sought and confirmed in 87 of 101 patients. The chest was the most common source (50%), followed by the abdomen (22%). The rate of compliance with the 6-hour sepsis bundle was 52%. Compared with the compliant group, the non-compliant group had a more than twofold increase in hospital mortality (49% versus 23%, relative risk (RR) 2.12 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.20 to 3.76), P = 0.01) despite similar age and severity of sepsis. Compliance with the 24-hour sepsis bundle was achieved in only 30% of eligible candidates (21/69). Hospital mortality was increased in the non-compliant group from 29% to 50%, with a 76% increase in risk for death, although the difference did not reach statistical significance (RR 1.76 (95% CI 0.84 to 3.64), P = 0.16).ConclusionNon-compliance with the 6-hour sepsis bundle was associated with a more than twofold increase in hospital mortality. Non-compliance with the 24-hour sepsis bundle resulted in a 76% increase in risk for hospital death. All medical staff should practise these relatively simple, easy and cheap bundles within a strict timeframe to improve survival rates in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock.

Project description:ObjectivesTo assess the compliance of Asian intensive care units and hospitals to the Surviving Sepsis Campaign's resuscitation and management bundles. Secondary objectives were to evaluate the impact of compliance on mortality and the organisational characteristics of hospitals that were associated with higher compliance.DesignProspective cohort study.Setting150 intensive care units in 16 Asian countries.Participants1285 adult patients with severe sepsis admitted to these intensive care units in July 2009. The organisational characteristics of participating centres, the patients' baseline characteristics, the achievement of targets within the resuscitation and management bundles, and outcome data were recorded.Main outcome measureCompliance with the Surviving Sepsis Campaign's resuscitation (six hours) and management (24 hours) bundles.ResultsHospital mortality was 44.5% (572/1285). Compliance rates for the resuscitation and management bundles were 7.6% (98/1285) and 3.5% (45/1285), respectively. On logistic regression analysis, compliance with the following bundle targets independently predicted decreased mortality: blood cultures (achieved in 803/1285; 62.5%, 95% confidence interval 59.8% to 65.1%), broad spectrum antibiotics (achieved in 821/1285; 63.9%, 61.3% to 66.5%), and central venous pressure (achieved in 345/870; 39.7%, 36.4% to 42.9%). High income countries, university hospitals, intensive care units with an accredited fellowship programme, and surgical intensive care units were more likely to be compliant with the resuscitation bundle.ConclusionsWhile mortality from severe sepsis is high, compliance with resuscitation and management bundles is generally poor in much of Asia. As the centres included in this study might not be fully representative, achievement rates reported might overestimate the true degree of compliance with recommended care and should be interpreted with caution. Achievement of targets for blood cultures, antibiotics, and central venous pressure was independently associated with improved survival.

Project description:ObjectivesCase volume-outcome associations bolster arguments to regionalize severe sepsis care, an approach that may necessitate interhospital patient transfers. Although transferred patients may most closely reflect care processes involved with regionalization, associations between sepsis case volume and outcomes among transferred patients are unclear. We investigated case volume-outcome associations among patients with severe sepsis transferred from another hospital.DesignSerial cross-sectional study using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample.SettingUnited States nonfederal hospitals, years 2003-2011.PatientsOne hundred forty-one thousand seven hundred seven patients (weighted national estimate of 717,732) with severe sepsis transferred from another acute care hospital.InterventionsNone.Measurements and main resultsWe examined associations between quintiles of annual hospital severe sepsis case volume for the receiving hospital and in-hospital mortality among transferred patients with severe sepsis. Secondary outcomes included hospital length of stay and total charges. Transferred patients accounted for 13.2% of hospitalized severe sepsis cases. In-hospital mortality was 33.2%, with median length of stay 11 days (interquartile range, 5-22), and median total charge $70,722 (interquartile range, $30,591-$159,013). Patients transferred to highest volume hospitals had higher predicted mortality risk, greater number of acutely dysfunctional organs, and lower adjusted in-hospital mortality when compared with the lowest-volume hospitals (odds ratio, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.67-0.90). In stratified analysis (p < 0.001 for interaction of case volume by organ failure), mortality benefit associated with case volume was limited to patients with single organ dysfunction (n = 48,607, 34.3% of transfers) (odds ratio, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.55-0.80). Treatment at highest volume hospitals was significantly associated with shorter adjusted length of stay (incidence rate ratio, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.75-0.98) but not costs (% charge difference, 95% CI: [-]18.8, [-]37.9 to [+]0.3).ConclusionsHospital mortality was lowest among patients with severe sepsis who were transferred to high-volume hospitals; however, case volume benefits for transferred patients may be limited to patients with lower illness severity.

Dataset Information

The effect of hospital volume on mortality in patients admitted with severe sepsis.

Importance

Objective

Design setting and participants

Exposures

Main outcomes and measures

Results

Conclusions and relevance

Publications

The effect of hospital volume on mortality in patients admitted with severe sepsis.

Similar Datasets

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